Whether it comes to your family members, finances or a data centers, security will always be a priority for people throughout the rest of time. However, that does not always mean it is guaranteed. If a strategy is executed incorrectly, there can be consequences. As the IT becomes more demanding and self-sufficient, as does the role of the Security Manager. To put this into perspective, compare the Security Managers job to the concerns of a parent.
Much like a newborn child, the line of business (LOB) was originally reliant on others, the IT department’s security staff to be specific, to ensure data was protected. If a demand had to be fulfilled, the security team had to be consulted because the LOB teams had no knowledge or ability to do so on their own.
Then came the PC era when businesses began to take a few responsibilities into their own hands. Saving, printing and storing data could be done without any help. You can think of this like teenage years when kids start to grow up and inevitably are exposed to more risks, yet are not ready to go off into the world alone. Users were taught to look out for things like viruses and worms that began to pop up in interconnected networks, but still needed to defer back to the IT staff to implement anti-virus software and clean out any bugs.
Eventually, that child grows into a young adult and becomes capable of making choices of his or her own. Parents educate their kids about the dangers that being on your own entail so they aren’t sent blindly into an insecure world. In parallel, as the popularity of the Internet grew the number of interconnected devices has skyrocketed – both company networks and personal devices. Risky exposure points became more prominent. The rise of organized data theft exposes businesses of all kinds to personal and confidential information hacking for all sorts of nefarious crimes.
Security teams feel a sense of urgency to provide LOBs with the tools and guardrails to be autonomous without putting the business at risk. As one would imagine, their worst nightmare is to be the next headline story in the news! Think of this like letting your child blossom into a young adult and step into the world without you watching over their shoulder constantly. Independence is slowly gained but not without preparation.
Cloud technology is taking off and it’s not feasible to rely on IT for every request. Not to mention, if IT consumers can not get what they need right away they will go out and get it on their own. So what should be done? How can a company innovate rapidly while still delivering enterprise-grade performance, resiliency and security?
The Federation Enterprise Hybrid Cloud can help by combining the control, reliability and confidence of private cloud with the simplicity, flexibility and cost efficiency of public clouds to transform delivery of IT services. New security policies can be created through the self-service catalog putting power and control into the hands of its users.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9wrt-rpafw&index=1&list=PLbssOJyyvHuWJXJL2_N1ATR8iS_jpR_iX
Empowering users to deploy resources on demand does not mean IT looses control. In fact, all policies and modifications are visible to the Security Manager. Costs can be compared across private and public clouds for aligning performance and protection service levels with workload and cost objectives. If an application workload is moved to a new site the respective encryption policies a user applied through the self-service portal will follow and active-active provisioning across two sites with built in disaster recovery to ensure your infrastructure is always-on.
Another major concern for Security Managers is who to choose as a trusted partner. The EMC Federation spent thousands of engineering hours designing and integrating this solution to ensure all components work together properly.
BOTTOM LINE…
Just like a child looks to their experienced, wiser parent for advice on how to succeed on their own, Security Managers can look to EMC’s Federation for direction with their cloud strategies. Security managers are giving IT staff the ability to move at the speed they desire while keeping data safe. Thanks to the Federation Enterprise Hybrid Cloud, companies can confidently find success in today’s digital era!
To see our solution in action, visit our demo site here. Or, learn more on our webpage and follow @emccloud on Twitter.